Blogs

Learning from "The Boise Revolution" (video)

By Joel Mills posted 2 days ago
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The f uture of retail in America is under  renewed  focus as COVID-19 forces declining retail models to fold.  The shopping mall as a retail model has been in decline for years, but the pandemic has hastened its demise.  Analysts are now predicting historic retail closures in 2020 of more than double the previous record experienced in 2009.  According to  Coresight  Research , US retailers will close between 20,000-25,000 stores this year –  and  as much as 60% of those closures will occur in shopping malls.  Another  recent study  found that more than half of  all mall-based department stores  will  close by the end of 2021 , which may ...
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Update from 2020 chair

By Curtis W. Fentress FAIA posted 8 days ago
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Update from 2020 Chair Fellow Committee on Design Members, I hope you are safe and healthy and finding some sense of normalcy in your lives and in your practices. As the country continues to fight the pandemic and work towards stabilizing the economy in the very present moment, it is also important to look ahead. In my last communication to you, I announced the new dates for the 2021 spring conference in Denver—May 13-16, 2021. I am happy to report that we have now finalized dates for the fall international conference. I hope you will be able to join us October 9-17, 2021, for a fabulous tour of Singapore’s architecture. We will ...
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AIA Film Challenge 2020 Social Share Kit

By Langford Wiggins posted 13 days ago
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The AIA Film Challenge 2020 is open! Please help us promote the Film Challenge to your members. On this page, you’ll find sample social media posts and images sized for each platform. You can also link to our  30-second promo video  instead of using a picture if you prefer. An additional suite of display ads can be found on Brandfolder. We’re introducing a new format for this year’s challenge—the mini-documentary—to help participants stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic and comply with various stay-at-home orders. We’re looking for submissions that are 60-90 seconds long (instead of the usual 3-5 minutes) and are produced using a personal device, ...
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Virtual Institute Resource Training (IRT) 2020 Material

By Langford Wiggins posted 16 days ago
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We've curated 2020 IRT recordings and PowerPoint presentations to assist you as you navigate through AIA national's programs to meet the requirements for core services and to better serve our members.   Please contact  Ryan Graves  with any questions or assistance. Series 1: Introductions and Engagement Presenters: Eric White, Hon. AIA, CACE President & Executive Director, Boston Society of Architects Corey Clayborne, FAIA, CACE Secretary and Executive Vice President, AIA Virginia Overview:     Gain an overall understanding of “who CACE is,” your role and responsibilities as an executive director, CACE governance and leadership at the ...
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Webinar Recording: Components Facing COVID-19: Governance Goes Virtual

By Langford Wiggins posted 17 days ago
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Wondering how to hold your component's board and membership meetings while maintaining a safe distance? In this previously recorded webinar, AIA's legal and executive staff outlined how to run membership meetings, board meetings, elections, and other governance activities in the virtual space. They'll also share how AIA is handling its own annual meeting this year, despite the cancellation of A'20. Attachments:  Webinar Recording PowerPoint Presentation   #News #Governan
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Liz York: Defining Design Excellence | Measure 7: Design for Wellness

By Kira L. Gould posted 26 days ago
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Defining Design Excellence | Measure 7: Design for Wellness   In 2019, the AIA adopted the COTE measures as the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. We’ve been exploring the measures in a series of posts. We asked Liz York, FAIA, LEED AP, from the Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management (OSSAM) at the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), to share her thoughts about Measure 7: Design for Wellness which reads:   Sustainable design supports comfort, health, and wellness for the people who inhabit or visit buildings. Describe strategies for optimizing daylight; indoor air quality; connections to the outdoors; and thermal, ...
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New COTE Advisory Group Member: Billie Tsien, AIA

By Kira L. Gould posted 26 days ago
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New COTE Advisory Group member: Billie  Tsien , AIA   This month, we share the voice of the third of four new COTE Advisory Group members, Billie  Tsien , AIA. (Learn about Julie Snow, FAIA,  here , and about Billie Faircloth, AIA,  here ; the voice of Kira Gould, Allied AIA, will appear in a future issue.)   Billie  Tsien  began working with Tod Williams in 1977 and they co-founded their architecture practice,  Tod Williams Billie  Tsien  Architects | Partners , in 1986. The New York studio focuses on work for “organizations and people that value issues of aspiration and meaning, timelessness and ...
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A Report from the (Virtual) Living Future unConference, 2020

By Kira L. Gould posted 26 days ago
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A Report from the Virtual Living Future  unConference   by Margaret Montgomery, FAIA   When faced with COVID-19 and a ban on gatherings, what happens to a conference known for its close-knit community; its variety of activities, formats, and after-parties;  and its leading-edge perspective?  Living Future  unConference  attendees found out last month. Challenged to pivot quickly from an in-person event with an eerily prescient theme, “Sustaining Hope in Crisis” to visualizing a virtual alternative, ILFI’s staff  got creative and tackled the problem. The outcome stood out for several reasons:      Participation and Community: ...
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Healthy environments and the impact of COVID

By Jennifer Cagide-Alexander Assoc. AIA posted 26 days ago
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As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens the lives and wellbeing of citizens across the world, there is growing evidence that our unhealthy environment has an impact on making us both more susceptible to becoming infected with COVID-19 and also more likely to experience severe outcomes. For example, people who are exposed to air pollution are 15% more likely to have increased risk of severe outcomes or death from COVID-19. COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the way we live our lives. As we shelter in place and disrupt our daily work and leisure routines, our new routines have had positive and negative effects on our environment.  Studies have shown a ...
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Homeschooling, managing stress and our wellbeing

By Mayda V. Colon AIA posted 26 days ago
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Burnout, before the pandemic was something we were mildly aware of, unless it was ourselves who were stressed, tired, and wanted to give up. Then it is in the forefront of my mind like the song that gets stuck in my head, repeated like a mantra, over and over. The Washington Post’s article The coronavirus pandemic is pushing America into a mental health crisis suggests that during the pandemic we are seeing unprecedented increase of cases of mental health and emotional distress cases. This suggests that we are also in need of building our mental and emotional resilience more than ever.   But how? Today we are not only dealing with work stress but stress ...
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Seeing the Future: Winners of the COTE Top Ten for Students Competition

By Marsha A. Maytum FAIA posted 27 days ago
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On May 21 ,  ACSA and AIA announced this year’s winning  student  competition entries selected from studio projects from 47 architecture schools throughout the United States and Canada.  During the 2019-2020 school year , more than  600 students  submitted entries to  the competition which “recognizes  10  exceptional studio projects that demonstrate designs moving towards carbon-neutral operation through creative and innovative integration of design strategies   ...   and sustainable systems.”    Established by AIA COTE in 201 3 , this  annual c ompetition  was created to  inspire the next generation of architects ,  to transform ...
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Letter from the Chair- June 2020

By Julie Hiromoto AIA posted 27 days ago
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Dear COTE members, Every year, I’m amazed by the  COTE Top Ten Award winning projects ,  this year is no different.  But before we celebrate these winners, we should  reflect  on the social justice atrocities that  have  been  tolerated for  too long.   The COTE  A dvi s o r y Group   supports  The National Organization of Minority Architects’ (NOMA)  and the  AIA Board’s  statements o n   systemic racial injustice .   We must act, as individuals and within our firms and organizations, to mobilize broader change against inequity and racism.   COTE   commit s   to  refine  our mission to articulate this position and ...
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Knowledge Transfer aka the Bid Handoff

By Michael E. Plottel FAIA posted 29 days ago
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Knowledge Transfer aka the Bid Handoff By Michael Plottel     I like to describe design as the process through which an architect alchemizes the owner’s program (often initiated as generalized  needs, vague wishes and hazy preferences) into a precise, tangible, constructed solution, with the help of a builder…  …with the help of a builder : a small detail that is too often overlooked or ignored during design.  Everyone appreciates the value of a good contractor, but we don’t necessarily understand the considerable discipline, mettle, skill, and art required of the builder to execute successfully. No matter what contract method you consider, lump sum, ...
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Components' Public Statements on Racial Injustice

By Langford Wiggins posted 06-04-2020
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AIA components nationwide have crafted public statements in response to recent events of social injustice and centuries-long systemic racism. Frequent this catalog of statements for assistance in drafting your response to racial injustice in America. NOMA’s Public Statement Regarding Racial Injustice Statement from Minnesota's AIA leaders AIA New York Dismantling Injustice and Systemic Racism AIA Colorado Advocating for Equity: A Letter From the CEO AIA Austin Against Injustice and Systemic Racism Virginia Architects Joint Statement on Racial Injustice AIA Chicago Statement Regarding Racial Violence in our Communities Statement from the ...
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In Defense of Cities: Density and the Pandemic

By Joel Mills posted 06-02-2020
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rash of reporting  connecting our cities  with the spread of disease and revisiting old stereotypes about urban life. The common narrative has rationalized that cities are more prone to disease transmission given the higher proximity of people and inferred human contact that comes with a compact built environment.   New York City, as America’s principal iconic city, has served as a poster child for this argument given that it has been a center for the outbreak.   In March, a New York Times  headline declared  “ Density Is New York City’s Big ‘Enemy’ in the Coronavirus Fight .” Recently, another Times headline  ...
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Welcome! Ways to engage with the CxD community

By Paola Capo posted 06-02-2020
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Welcome to the CxD community! AIA’s Center for Communities by Design is an AIA public service focused on helping cities and towns across the US and abroad transform to meet the needs of their communities. Engage with us to learn more about strategies that communities across the world are employing to create healthier, more equitable and livable communities. Plus, stay updated on ongoing Communities by Design projects and other learning opportunities. How to join our community Navigate to the Communities by Design KnowledgeNet homepage. Click the red “Join our community” button on the right side of the page. If you are an AIA member or have ...
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Calendar of Upcoming National Virtual Residential Design Events

By Kevin Harris Assoc. AIA posted 06-02-2020
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Here are some great Summer Virtual Residential Design Events, curated by local CRAN, Solo and Small Practice AIA Knowledge Communities, that you don't want to miss! June 5th, NY CRAN presents James Timberlake, FAIA, and Stephen Kieran, FAIA , of KieranTimberlake will sit down with author and architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen over a custom-crafted cocktail as they discuss their firm and work . June 8-12 Seattle SPARC  (Small Practice & Residential Committee) hosts the Virtual Housing Design Week . This is a full week of continuing education webinars, discussions, film screenings, art, and engagement focused on small scale ...
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Case Study: Huaxiang Christian Community Center

By Cameron T. Bird AIA posted 05-28-2020
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Interfaith Design's Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The Christian church has been challenged from the beginning to live in the world, but set apart from the world. This state of spiritual being has been reflected, since the Roman Empire legalized Christianity, in the buildings that the church has built. Completed in 2018 in Fuzhou, China, the Huaxiang Christian Community Center embraces its role as the church made manifest. Entrance ...
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Clients Using the Framework + Toolkit: City of Madison, Wisconsin

By Kira L. Gould posted 05-18-2020
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CLIENTS USING THE FRAMEWORK + TOOLKIT   The City of Madison, Wisconsin, Taps Framework/Toolkit for  Robust Dialogue and Project Results   by Kira Gould     The COTE Top Ten Toolkit -- guidelines organized around the 10 measures launched in early 2019 -- was created to support design teams and their clients -- for projects of any scale, any type, in any region. A number of clients have embraced  the Toolkit and the Framework  (AIA adopted the COTE Measures, the backbone of the Toolkit, as the Framework for Design Excellence in late 2019) and report powerful results.      The City of Madison, Wis., uses the Toolkit and Framework ...
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Firms Using the Framework + Toolkit: Olson Kundig

By Kira L. Gould posted 05-18-2020
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FIRMS USING THE FRAMEWORK & THE TOOLKIT   Olson Kundig Deploys Questions in Design Process   “The COTE Top Ten Toolkit and the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence are a natural fit with the way Olson Kundig  approaches design,” says Vikram Sami, AIA, BEMP, LEED AP, the firm’s Director of Building Performance. “We think about buildings as a bridge between people and nature, and part of that is considering the impact of the built environment on its surroundings, now and in the future.”   To better integrate the Framework within their design process, the firm adopted a series of tools that push teams to engage directly with the Framework ...
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